Category Archives: Hair Tales

//My how time flies! Today is Halloween and from here on…its a straight shot to Turkey time and Christmas cheer! Here are a few photos from a braid-out I did this past week. I washed, used my Aphogee 2 Min Reconstructor, deep conditioned, and then applied my leave-in. Refer to this post for products. I then braided my hair into about 10 – 12 hanging plaits and secured the ends with gray perm rods. I let it dry overnight and in morning I undid the braids, added some coconut oil and shea butter mixture, fluffed, and kept it moving! At night, I just put on a silk bonnet and refluff in the morning. Easy breezy. 🙂

For Halloween, I decided to dress up as Princess Tiana from my favorite Disney movie, “Princess & The Frog.” The movie is so cute to me and it’s about time that we had the first Black Disney Princess!

//As I’ve progressed in my hair journey, I’ve learned so many things, experienced many accomplishments and setbacks and I’m proud that I’ve maintained enough discipline to continue to reach my goals. As I said in the previous hair post, I still have a ways to go to get to where I want to be personally, but hey..so far, so good! I wanted to share some throwback pictures and progress pictures just to show my transition through the years. At time when it comes to growth, it seems like my hair has stopped, sat down in the middle of the road and said “sooo…i’m just gonna chill here for awhile.” But then I’ll look at a comparison pic and realize how far I’ve come. So it always helps to keep photo evidence of your hair if you are in the process of growing it out.

Here is what my hair looked like back in the day before I started actively focusing on healthy hair care. It always looked “nice”, but it was definitely NOT healthy. I dyed, highlighted, heat-styled my hair on a continuous basis and it remained the same length for years on end.

Around 2005-2006, I, along with a close friend of mine, started researching healthy hair and that’s when things started to change. I developed a regimen and over the years, I have tweaked and modified it as necessary. My hair is currently relaxed and I stretch my relaxers anywhere from 6 months to 9 months. Here are pictures from as early as 07 to this year.

//My current regimen is as follows:

Daily:

When Hair is curly (roller set, flexi rod, braidout) – Moisturize hair with water based moisturizer/leave-in conditioner and seal with coconut oil. At night, cover hair with satin bonnet and KIM (keep it moving).

When Hair is Straight – Moisturize hair with homemade moisturizer (created by a friend of mine and contains shea butter, peppermint oil, and castor oil). I use this moisturizer when my hair is straight because using a water based moisturizer would cause my hair to get frizzy and defeat the whole point of wearing it straight. At night, wrap hair and KIM.

Take One A Day vitamins with a meal.

Weekly:

Wash hair with sulfate free shampoo, use light protein on hair while in the shower and rinse. Once out of the shower, deep condition hair by placing conditioner on hair and sitting under the dryer for approx. 20 min or cover with a plastic cap and leave on for 45 min without heat.

Rinse out conditioner, spray on leave-in conditioner, and detangle with Tangle Teezer. Style as desired. After each wash, I apply castor oil to my scalp. Castor oil is known to aid in hair growth and I like to apply it 1-2 times a week. From here…move to Daily routine.

As needed:

Co-Wash – A conditioner wash is for when I need to wet my hair and either redo a style or switch it up. Constant shampooing can leave hair dry and dull, and co-washing allows you to wet your hair when needed, but still keep your hair moisturized and feeling soft. Some ladies co-wash several times a week and then by the end of the week they wash with shampoo to remove any product build-up. If you’ve heard of Wen by Chaz Dean, I believe it’s a similar concept.

Protein Treatment – When I experience any breakage with my hair, I may decide to do a protein treatment. Since I do weekly protein treatments with Aphogee 2 Min Reconstructor, I don’t do other protein treatments often. But on occasion I have done an egg treatment to impart extra protein for my hair. Egg is a natural protein and there are several youtube vids on ways to do egg treatments (Here is one) and I use an egg mixed with conditioner. I mix it together, apply to my hair, let it sit for about 20 min, and then rinse out WITH COOL WATER. If you rinse out with water that is too warm the eggs will scramble. No Bueno. The result is shiny, stronger hair. 🙂

Moisture Treatment – There are many moisturizing treatments you can use as needed. I prefer using natural ingredients on my hair when possible, so I’ve done Molasses treatments for moisture in the past. Blackstrap molasses can nourish and repair damaged hair and provide much needed moisture, especially in the winter months when there is little moisture in the air. For my mixture, I take blackstrap molasses (purchased from HEB), conditioner, and coconut oil or avocado oil and mix it all together then apply it to dry hair. I let it sit for 30 min, rinse out, shampoo, light condition, spray leave-in and style as desired. I’ve noticed a difference whenever I do it and it’s a money saving treatment. Here is a video on how to apply the mixture.

Product List:

My list of products change over time and through the various seasons. You can refer back to the previous post found here, to see what I am using and then read above to see how I use it. These are my staple products, though I will try different ones that catch my eye and report on them here. I buy most of my products from Whole Foods Market, Sally’s, Ulta, or HEB.

Styling Options:

I typically wear my hair in some sort of curly style just because when it is straight, it usually requires some type of heat and I don’t want to do that often. Continuous heat styling can be damaging to the hair, so I try and keep it to a minimum. I will post on the various hair styles I wear. Below is the look I am currently wearing and that is a flexi rod set done on dry, flat-ironed hair.

To get this look, I had previously washed, blow-dried, and flat-ironed my hair. I wore it straight for a day or so and then added approx 6-7 medium sized flexi rods to my hair at night. In the morning, I took them out, applied my shea butter mixture, finger combed my hair and separated the curls. I lightly sprayed some holding spray just because the morning fog here in Houston has been crazy and I’ll step outside only to have my curls drop in the walk from the door to the car! At night, I reapply the rods, cover with a satin bonnet and…KIM!

Future hair posts will include discussions about styling options and the importance product ingredients.

//For most women, our hair — whether it is long, short, straight, curly, natural, or relaxed — is our crown and glory. And I am no exception. Hair is an integral part of fashion because if our hair is not on point, then our whole look can be ruined. I’ve been through all kinds of trials and tribulations with my hair, and it feels good to say that I’m finally at a point where I can look at my hair and be satisfied with what I see. Though, there are still plenty of times when I throw my comb down in frustration and say “Really?! So this is the kind of hair day I’m going to have today?”

A few years back, I started actively growing my hair in order to reach my goal length of (in “hair lingo”) mid-back length. Now back in the day (late 90s – mid 2000s) I would have NEVER thought that I could get my hair to reach this length. It just seemed impossible. But thanks a friend of mine who introduced me to a hair care website called LongHairCareForum.com, my whole perspective on hair was changed forever.

We would both scroll through that site on a daily basis and gather as much information as we could. I began to develop a regimen for healthy hair care and learned more about hair than I ever knew before. There have been hair highs and lows since that fateful day, but my hair is now longer than its ever been. I’m still on my quest to reach my goal and I see myself making progress, slowly but surely.

Here are a few pictures that I just took after I did my weave take-down, detangled, washed, blow-dried, and flat-ironed.

Here are pics of the products I used:

Detangling Tools//The Tangle Teezer is THE TRUTH. You can find them at Sally’s and I use it on wet and dry hair for ALL my detangling needs. It makes a long, drawn-out detangle process a thing of the past.

Washing & Conditioning Products//I purchased the Queen Helene set (which smells amazing) from Whole Foods because their shampoos and conditioners do not contain sodium lauryl sulfate and other harsh items found in many shampoos. The Aphogee 2 Min Reconstructor and Roux Moisture Recovery were both purchased from Sally’s.

Leave-Ins//It’s a 10 Leave-in is THE TRUTH! It’s a bit pricey ($16 for the size above purchased from HEB) but it really does wonders for my hair after I wash out my conditioner and begin the styling process. The Conditioner by Paul Mitchell (can be purchased from Ulta, HEB, & Sephora) is another great leave-in and I use it as a daily moisturizer when my hair is NOT straight.

Styling products//I use coconut oil as a daily moisture sealant and I purchased this type of oil from a local Indian grocery store. I switch back and forth between the CHI silk infusion and the Silk Elements heat spray when deciding which to use before flat-ironing. This time around I used the silk infusion.

I will create another post going into more detail about healthy haircare, my hair regimen, definition of terms, and why I use these products and others. Let me know if you have any questions!